How Germany’s Most Beautiful City Was Destroyed… and Rebuilt

How Germany’s Most Beautiful City Was Destroyed… and Rebuilt
The Story of Dresden: BOMBED - And REBUILT

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👉 In this video, we will be looking at the inspiring story of Dresden. This capital city of Saxony with its rich history and beautiful architecture was bombed late in the war. The controversial bombing of Dresden resulted in the loss of most of its heritage and heavy damage to whatever remained intact. But over the last thirty years, Dresden has seen a true renaissance, and most of its former glory has been restored. Even more reconstruction efforts are underway, but not without its challenges!

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🙏 Special thanks to the following persons:

- Torsten Kulke, GHND
- Berndt Dietze, Baywobau GmbH.
- Frank Wiesner
- Bart Urban
- Marleen Schutjens
- Paul Hanssen
- all our patrons!

ℹ️ Info about the GHND:

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Disclosure: Some of the links below are affiliate links, which means I may earn a commission if you click on them and make a purchase. This comes at no additional cost to you and helps support the channel.

📚 Books:

🎥 Video equipment I used:

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©️ Images copyright info:

Artist impressions Neustädtermarkt, Narrenhäusel:
Courtesy of Gesellschaft Historischer Neumarkt Dresden (artist impressions)

Neues Gewandhaus:
Gesellschaft Historischer Neumarkt Dresden

On Wikimedia Commons:
Bundesarchiv
Derbrauni
Hajotthu
Gabriele Delhey
FORTEPAN / Nagy Gyula
APD
Bybbisch94 Christian Gebhardt
Dronepicr
Druck & Verlag d Kunstanst f Lithogr & Steindruck Moritz Zobel Dresden
Erich Braun
FORTEPAN / Lencse Zoltán
Helmut Mehler
Jörg Blobelt
Qwesi Qwesi
Schiwago
Stefan Kühn
Cor2701
Jason Dawsey
Cassowary Colorizations
Henry Mühlpfordt
Manfred Schröter
Raphaël Thiémard
RaBo
Yuriy Somov
ETH-Bibliothek Zürich Bildarchiv
SLUB Dresden Photothek
Gabriele Delhey

Ana Quintans on Unsplash

Library of Congress

Maps: Google Maps

🎶 Music from Soundstripe:

ALOU8H8OEIPUOLLN - Dawn of Triumph - Salon Dijon
VR0C6KVNCERR6HP5 - The Clearing - CJ-0
KGRPMKH4RWVL9TBT - Culture Art - Cody Martin
BIKXUJJLWBV5DADV - Bamburgh - Stephen Keech
H1HOJNWM14CA4APC - Space Child - Cast of Characters
YGKQEYS89132YPLX - Lake Millstätt - LNDÖ
FMVJZ5BEUD1KV23R - Pursuit - Shimmer
REN3PYJEHGBP2B6Q - Rarefaction - Neon Beach
D6ZSRPQRAT0RPZXB - Into the storm - Moments
W2VYFTCESDSIVYL7 - Cyber racer - Lunareh
9IGKSDGP76FGMIGL - Anchor Crawl - Cody Martin
8I2RIR8GZFZSOUQ4 - Golden - Midnight Daydream
EJPS3B5WOATKTFST - Nuclear Conception - Alice In Winter
2LGSDRMPZT96UDLV - Hawkins - Falls
FF2SF4WFHXZPXQJY - Montag - Transmuter
TVYSS53PIMLTGG0Q - Truth - Falls
D0ZHYT81QHW8ZVVY - Spaceland - SPARKZ
7VA3RDDH64EZ8INN - Miramar - Idols

Tags:
The_Aesthetic_City, Dresden,Dresden_architecture , Dresden renaissance,Saxony capital city,Dresden cityscape,dresden,Dresden landmarks,dresden germany,dresden bombing anniversary,Drasden cityscape,dresden renaissance,saxony capital city,dresden landmarks,dresden historical sites

[markuserikssen]

Happy to see that Dresden is slowly getting a beautiful city core again. It's hard to believe that there are people who are against this.

[mariannenygaard]

I am Danish and have worked as a tour guide in Dresden for 12 years. My first encounter with the city was "love at first sight”. Although at that time, a large part of the area around the Frauenkirche was still more or less undeveloped. When I come to Dredsen today, I see the incredibly beautiful buildings around the church. It couldn't have been done better, thanks to the architects who made Dresden one of the most beautiful cities in Europe again.

[dirtywaterpj_dj]

I was in Frankfurt recently, where some buildings have also been reconstructed in the style of what was there pre-WWII. A local said that some people referred to it as “Disneyfication”, making it nice for tourists. But nice is nice. Who doesn’t like a pleasant, attractive environment?

[LWTok]

As a Non-European, there's something about Western (more specifically classical/traditional European Architecture) that just oozes grandiosity and beauty that leaves me in utter awe and appreciation.

[spiralpython]

I visited Dresden last year. I was stunned by the beauty and the feeling that it was not a pastiche… the city felt authentic, and even though it was rebuilt, it was rebuilt properly. I was blown away by the delicate beauty of the Frauenkirche. Dresden is one of my favourite European cities. And a very different city to those comparatively modern cities in my country, Australia.

[adesauvanie]

The ultimate example for me is always Rotterdam versus Middelburg in the Netherlands. Both were destroyed in the Second World War. Rotterdam was rebuilt as a modernist city, but Middelburg was rebuilt mostly as it was before. And tourists today flock in droves to Middelburg because of its beauty, whereas the same cannot be said for Rotterdam.
The modernists can claim whatever they like, but the human is naturally drawn to traditional beauty, and not to the soulless boxes that are the modernist utopic vision.

[citroniron]

I was born in Dresden and moved away 20 years ago. I visit 4 times a year and it's always beautiful when you come from the west on the Autobahn. You see the skyline of the city and it just radiates beauty and history. I love my Dresden.

[huha]

My daughter and I spent a week in Dresden some 10 years ago. While she attended a course for acrylic painting, I was able to explore and experience the city. There was still construction going on in the center. Having spent some time in the museum, learning about the destruction of the city at the end of the war for no reason at all. Hard to imagine that was allowed as well as how the city was reborn. I walked everywhere, enjoying the beauty and the city's charm. Having taken a lot of fotos, it would be interesting to see the changes today. I hope to return one day. I am very happy that the citizens fought to revive the city. Worth visiting as well as its historic value. LG aus Villach-Warmbad.

[paulfrisstdich]

I live in Dresden for already 7 years. For me it's the most beautiful city in Germany and it makes me happy how beautiful and clean it is here :) you also seem to feel that people are way more happy here
Come visit friends from all over the world❤

[ericcallway]

Thanks for this excellent video. I took my wife to Dresden earlier this year. It was my second visit: my first was over 40 years ago when I was as a diplomat accredited to the former GDR. I was deeply moved by the beauty of the transformation achieved since my last visit, particularly of the Frauenkirche which was a pile of rubble during my earlier visit. It had then been deliberately left in that terrible state as a memorial to the allied bombing raid of 13 February 1945. The reconstruction since reunification is nothing short of a miracle. I was particularly proud that Britain had contributed to the cross on the dome as a symbol of reconciliation. I was delighted to learn from the video that there are further plans for the Neustadt. Sadly I doubt if I’ll still be around to see their fulfilment but I wish those concerned every success.

[shiraseskai]

I was visiting Dresden in 1994 and witnessed the preservation of what was left of the Frauenkirche as well as the rescue of what was left in the rubble. Most stones had to be replaced but you can see every single old stone that could be restored went back to its original place.

Thank you to everyone involved to make this possible.

The church burnt for two days before one of the pillars carrying the dome gave in and caused a chain reaction. The restauration has a very strong symbolic value for the city itself after so much destruction.

[BenWinney]

I was there recently. There is such a contrast between the way the architecture makes you feel in the beautiful old city vs the soulless modern areas nearer the train station.

[thehaussmann]

Great video! The segment about Neustädter Markt is so important, as it is easy to think that Dresden is now "complete" after it renovated Neumarkt. There are still many visible scars in the city, and I hope more will be healed in the coming years.

[karolw.]

I come from Poland, another country where 75 years ago cities looked similar to Dresden. Warsaw was largely rebuilt following historical standards, why not Dresden or Leipzig? Today visiting Neumarkt or Stare Miasto is simply a pleasure.

[HistoryHustle]

Great video. Maybe it was a blessing that Dresden was in East Germany. Because there was no money to rebuilt the city centre remained empty. In many west German cities they inmediatly started to replace the bombed city centre buildings with ugly modern architecture.

[augustconnors]

An Attractive City is a liveable city. People like a liveable city. (Walk to work, parks, garden, fountains, caffe, malls, meeting plazas/places.)

[reconquista]

I am an American who moved to Dresden 3 years ago. One of the major reasons why I'm proud to live here is because the baroque image of Dresden pops into my head every time I think of the city, with or without me realizing it.

I have also been following the efforts of the GHND these past few years, because I've also been captivated by the fact that they have made it possible to rebuild culturally vital parts of Dresden. And just like many residents, I also feel a kind of pain when I see old images of what Dresden compared to its current state.

It's even more depressing when I think that a few loud minorities and the city council seem to be taking every effort (and somewhat successfully) to disrupt and prevent the further beautification of the Königsufer, although the citizens have already voted on it and the plans were drawn.

I don't think the city council understands what makes this city beautiful for visitors and foreign residents; It certainly isn't old concrete Plattenbau buildings that one can find in hundreds to thousands of post-Soviet cities and towns (or many other parts of the city for that matter). They also seem to take the spike in tourists in recent years for granted. People want to be surrounded by a beautiful environment. Build and they shall come!

Also, if any members of the Gesellschaft Historicher Neumarkt are reading this, thank you so much for your effort.

[bart_u]

Such an incredibly important video! We need to stand up for our cities. ❤ The first money I ever donated was for the rebuilding of Dresden's Frauenkirche. Ever since then, I was involved to make this city beautiful again. It was an honor and pleasure to interview the local heroes for this video. Greetings from the Berlin studio of The Aesthetic City, Bart Urban

[kamilar]

The most shocking part is that it is not even that much more expensive (3%-5%), which is a very small price to pay, compared to how much more money the city/investors will get only because of the more tourism and the higher prices of the more "liked" urban spaces.

[joshualegaspi]

I'm so glad this beautiful city was restored. Though it makes me feel sad about Manila, all of the beautiful architectures just gone after WWII and were replaced by blocky buildings that give no sense of culture. Didn't even know this was possible, Manila could've retained its beauty.